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PURPOSE: To assess the effect of match-day napping and duration of naps on perceptual and performance indices in elite female netball players over 2 consecutive netball seasons. METHODS: A total of 14 elite female netball athletes (mean [SD]; age = 23 [6] y) participated in an observational study over 26 competition matches. On each match day, athletes provided information on their napping habits and perceived energy levels, then performed 3 countermovement jumps 3 h:30 min prior to the start of the match. One hour after the match, subjective player performance ratings from the players and 2 members of the coaching staff were obtained. Naps were characterized into 3 conditions for analysis: no nap (NN), <20-min nap (SHORT), and ≥20-min nap (LONG). A moderate, significant difference (d = 0.85; P < .05) was observed for the coach rating of performance (out of 10) between the SHORT and the NN condition (7.2 [0.8] and 6.4 [0.9], respectively) in favor of SHORT. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from the study would suggest that a short nap (<20 min) on the day of competition can enhance jump velocity and improve subjective performance in elite netball players, as assessed by coaching staff.
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O’Donnell et al. (2018) studied this question.
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